Other Denizens
of the Castle

Hogwarts is a place of many surprises. Not only are the doors and staircases
unusual, but also the paintings on the walls and the suits of armor in the
corridors act in ways a visitor might not expect. Everything seems to be
alive in some fashion. The
armor creaks and moves
and even laughs at unsuspecting students. And the paintings...
well, the paintings are practically full-fledged Beings. They speak and
intereact, not just with the humans in the castle but even with each other.

paintings & other artwork

paintings

bowl of fruit, painting of
One of a series of cheerful paintings (mainly still lifes featuring food,
although "still life" is a rather relative term to use in the
wizarding world) that hang in a broad stone corridor to the left of the
staircase leading one flight down from the Entrance Hall. The
painting of the bowl of fruit will open to reveal the entrance to the
Hogwarts kitchens if the
pear is tickled (GF21)

Sir Cadogan is a little knight whose picture hangs in a seventh-floor corridor
near the South Tower. He is a silly fellow whose bravura outshines his
commons sense and who glories in quests and challenges. Sir Cadogan spent
some time guarding the Gryffindor Common Room after Sirius Black attacked the Fat Lady (he was the only painting brave enough to
take the job). He thought up ridiculous passwords and changed them on a daily basis. He challenged people to duels whenever
they would try to enter or leave through the portrait hole. Sir Cadogan has
a huge sword and a little fat pony
(PA6, PA9) He chased after Harry when Sir Cadogan's picture
was hanging on a landing near the North Tower and the
Divination classroom, but was stopped in his pursuit when he
entered a picture which had a large and angry-looking wolfhound in it
(OP12)

group of women in crinolines, painting of
Hangs on the narrow spiral staircase leading up to
Professor Trelawney's classroom in North Tower
(PA6)

Fat Lady, painting of
wearing a pink silk dress hangs over the round doorway into the
Gryffindor Common Room. To gain
admittance to through the portrait hole, a person must give the correct
password to the Fat Lady, in which case
she swings her frame out from the wall. She has been known to get a bit
testy with people who wake her up for no good reason and even to wander
off late at night out of her frame to go visiting, making it impossible to
get into Gryffindor Tower. She is
friends with Violet
(GF17).
At Christmas, The Fat Lady and Violet tend
to consume a good bit of holiday cheer; during
Harry's fourth year
they got a bit tipsy on chocolate liqueurs
(GF23), and over the holidays
of Harry's sixth year
they drank their way through quite a lot of five-hundred-year-old wine
(HBP17).

landscape with trees
On the fourth floor. Peeves saw the Fat Lady running through this painting after she
fled from Sirius' attack
(PA9)

walrus mustache, wizard with
His painting hangs next to Violet's in the
antechamber off the Great Hall (GF17).

wizards playing cards
painting located in the Entrance Hall, next to the painting of the soppy-looking witch in the meadow (OP28)

Entrance to the Hufflepuff common room
Like the Gryffindor common room, the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room is hidden behind a painting. In the case of Hufflepuff, the painting is a still life and it's located in a corridor somewhat below the level of the Entrance Hall, near the kitchens (BLC).

Argyllshire, map of
On second floor, Fat Lady hid here after being
attacked by Sirius (PA9)

portraits of previous headmastersThese portraits apparently spend their days snoozing in the Headmaster's office (CS12).
In fact, often they are faking sleep and listening to everything that goes on;
they are duty-bound to help the current Headmaster in any way they can, which
usually means travelling to their other portraits on other places and
reporting what they see or delivering messages.

Lachlan the Lanky
Located on the seventh floor very close to the head of the stairs
leading down to the sixth floor. Ron hid
from the twins behind it
to avoid being teased about wanting to try out for Keeper
(OP13)

A stone gargoyle protects the entrance to the
Headmaster's office,
and will leap aside only if given the proper
password; this statue has not spoken
to Harry when spoken to or even when kicked
(CS11, GF,
HBP

two stone gargoyles stand on either side of the door of the staffroom;
they challenge any student who tries to knock on the door
(OP17, DH31)

McGonagall animated the statues and armour to fight in the Battle of Hogwarts (DH30) using a Piertotum Locomotor spell.

tapestries

Tapestries on the walls of the corridors sometimes hide secret passages (PS9, CS8, OP28, HBP14), including the entrance to the staircase with the trick step
(GF12, 25). There are tapestries in the Gryffindor common room (HBP9).

Barnabas the Barmy, moving tapestry of
depicting his foolish attempt to train trolls for the ballet, hangs on
the seventh floor of Hogwarts Castle, opposite the entrance to the
Room of Requirement
(OP18, 26, HBP20).

one with a trick step halfway up - your foot sinks into it
(GF12, 25 )

the staircase up to Dumbledore's office
moves magically upward, like an escalator
(CS11, OP22, DH36)

Although the films show a huge hall filled floor to ceiling with moving staircases, the books only mention one. It is refered to as "the swivelling staircase", which suggests that it's the only one (OP32). There is mention, however, of staircases that lead someplace different
on different days (PS8).

weird doors

the huge oak front doors of Hogwarts are apparently semi-sentient, because
Flitwick taught them to recognize a
picture of Sirius Black so that they
could refuse to let him enter the castle
(PA9)